By Herp News

Douglas McCauley began his career as a fisherman but later transitioned to marine science. He now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Sloan Research Fellow in the Ocean Sciences. McCauley studies how marine ecosystems function and what management practices best support ocean health. Earlier this year, he and several colleagues reviewed the past and future of marine life in the global oceans. Aquaculture for rearing salmon in the Faroe Islands. Photo courtesy of Erik Christensen. 1. The end of wild fish? For the first year in history, the people of the world ate more farmed-raised fish than wild fish, according to a report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. On land, the balance between the consumption of wild meat and farmed meat shifted thousands of years ago in most areas. Caution is needed to ensure that this new shift doesn’t mean that the oceans lose their capacity to serve up free-range fish for dinner, as happened long ago in many of our forests, prairies, and savannas. 2. Undersea gold rush In 2015 companies staked mining claims in more than 1 million square kilometers of deep-sea ecosystems in international waters. Contractors from countries like China, India, the United Kingdom, the Cook Islands, and Russia participated in the rush to claim areas from which they hope to extract gold, manganese, copper, and rare earth metals. This year a group of international scientists called for a halt…

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A hatchling loggerhead musk turtle.
Carl called across the river “Remember, they look like acorns.”

What, I wondered was he going on about now?

Then it dawned on me. We were only a few minutes from docking and Carl was likening the hatchling loggerhead musk turtles, Sternotherus m. minor, for which we were then searching to a submerged acorn. Well, it’s true that they are darn near small enough, and when the roughened carapace is muddied by the perpetually silted water in which we were then searching the tiny turtles are almost acorn colored. So as far as it went his comment was a fair analogy. But turn one upside down and you’ll find 4 black spotted olive-tan legs, and a similarly colored head, neck, and tail, protruding from a very unacornlike, flat, rich orange-red, cross-shaped, plastron.

Finally, just before docking the canoes, Carl saw one of the acorns. And just about at the same time I happened upon an adult, which, by the way, looks nothing at all like an acorn and is much duller in color than the hatchling, but is still enjoyable to find. Give it a try sometime. The search can be a whole lot more fulfilling than sitting home and taking a selfie!

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By Herp News

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]eef fish may take longer to recover from overfishing than previously thought. While smaller fish with short life spans tend to rebound quickly in protected reefs, larger, slow growing fish may need more than 100 years of strong protection to fully recover, a new study concludes. The study was published online this month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Tim McClanahan, senior conservationist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Nick Graham, a researcher with James Cook University in Australia, analyzed fish survey data from 324 coral reef sites in the Indian Ocean, spanning eight countries. They classified the study sites into six management categories ranging from large, uninhabited, remote protected areas down to reefs open to fishing with no restrictions on gear, which included destructive dragnets and explosives. For the fish at each site, the researchers evaluated family-level life history characteristics, such as body length, growth rate, age of maturation, and mortality. Previous research into reef-fish recovery rates primarily investigated biomass — the collective weight of fish in a given area — and tended to conclude that fish communities in protected reefs had recovered when their biomass leveled off, often after about 20 years. But many life-history metrics of a reef community continue to change for decades after biomass levels off, the study found, and the full recovery process may take over a century. Reef fish in the Maldives, where some sites examined in the present study were located. Photo by Malcom Browne.…

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The Komodo dragon–that giant monitor lizard inhabiting a few islands in Eastern Indonesia–is an exception. Biologically-speaking, of course, it is the world’s largest lizard, and a last survivor of monster lizards (bigger even than the Komodo) that once roamed a good portion of both Indonesia and Australia. But the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), is also an exception in conservation, both locally and globally. This became especially clear to me when I visited the islands of Flores and Komodo last spring. On arriving at the new airport in Labuan Bajo, I couldn’t help but marvel over the giant dragon replica sitting proudly for all arrivals to see. Clearly, the local government and developers were announcing the importance of dragons to the region. Many of the world’s top predators are gravely endangered and in decline. In addition, most of Indonesia’s large-bodied animals (including orangutans, elephants, rhinos and tigers) seem to be falling closer to extinction with every year that passes. But, the Komodo dragon is not. It is largely a conservation success story in a country where such examples are practically non-existent right now, and in a world where such tales for top predators are rare. So what makes the Komodo dragon different? And why have conservationists largely succeeded here when they are struggling to protect other big animals across the country? A world-class park devoted to a dragon For a long time, the Komodo dragon existed only in rumor to the wider world. Then in 1912 an intrepid Dutch army man,…

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By Herp News

As 2015 comes to a close, Mongabay is looking back at the year that was. This year saw President Obama reject the Keystone pipeline as historic droughts and a vicious wildfire season wracked the western US and Canada. The world committed to climate action in Paris as Southeast Asia was choking on the worst Indonesian haze in years, Shell aborted its plans to drill in the Arctic for the “foreseeable” future, and ExxonMobil is being investigated for lying to the public about climate risks. Here, in no certain order, are the top 15 environmental stories of 2015. 1. The world committed to climate action in Paris in what will almost definitely be the hottest year on record. In what was surely the biggest news of the year, negotiators representing nearly 200 countries reached a historic agreement to address climate change in Paris this December. The Paris Agreement commits countries to curbing greenhouse gas emissions with a goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) relative to pre-industrial levels. All signatories are required to take action toward meeting that goal by some combination of becoming more energy efficient, reducing deforestation and forest degradation, and burning less fossil fuels. That includes rich, industrialized nations like the United States and China as well as small, poor countries that are already struggling with the impacts of rising sea levels and temperatures. Some elements of the agreement are legally binding, but most language related to emissions reductions is voluntary,…

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By Herp News

While the threat of extinction looms closer than ever for many species, 2015 was not all gloom. Scientists discovered thousands of new species this year, some seen and classified for the first time and completely novel to science. This includes 74 species of beetles that were discovered on a single Hawaiian volcano. Others, like the African golden wolf, were identified as “new” species thanks to advanced genetic analysis. Below are Mongabay’s top picks for species discoveries in 2015. Note: for each entry, the publication and author are listed in parentheses. 1. Two new primate species  White-cheeked macaque (Mongabay, by Morgan Erickson-Davis) New monkey species, the white-cheeked macaque, was spotted in Tibet. Photo courtesy of Cheng Li et al 2015. Scientists discovered these monkeys in a remote and under-explored part of Tibet. Caught only on camera, the monkeys have an odd distinctive feature that sets them apart from four other monkeys in the region: these macaques have differently shaped and colored penis and scrotums. The researchers classified and named the white-cheeked macaques (Macaca leucogenys) based on photographs alone. But experts say that analysis of the macaque’s DNA would be necessary to confirm their “novel” status. The newly described monkey is threatened by local hunting and construction. Urubamba brown titi monkey (Mongabay, by Jeremy Hance) Photograph of the Urubamba brown titi monkey, © Proyecto Mono Tocón Jan Vermeer had long suspected that a specimen of a titi monkey at the American Museum of Natural History had been…

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We love this shot of a Scorpion Mud Turtle found in the field in the Yucatan Pennisula in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user cbreps! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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The other day a friend came by and I showed him my recently hatched Super Genetic Banded Albino Pied Ball Pythons. He just about lost it when he saw them. He told me that he thought the pictures I had posted were just photo shopped. As a result I decided to take a picture with both the Abino Pied and a Banded Albino so that people could see the difference.

Ball Python people know that all albinos are not created equal. This Genetic Banded gene I work with is a real color enhancer and pattern reducer, especially when in the super form. Of course, the Pied gene has an effect on color and pattern mixing as well. It is true that the Banded Albinos will lighten with age, but it is also true that Pieds darken with age and are lighter as babies. It will be interesting to see how these Super Genetic Banded Albino Pieds color up as adults. …read more
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A young female Sri Lankan tree viper.
For many years Patti and I kept and bred a couple of dozen species of tree vipers of several genera. Among my favorites was the Sri Lankan species, Trimeresurus trigonocephalus. They were of moderate size (usually 2 to 3 ½ feet) , usually of reasonably equable disposition, always of beautiful color, and since they are both dimorphic and dichromatic they are an easily sexed taxon. Males, the smaller gender usually have much more black in the lateral and dorsal pattern than the primarily green females. Additionally, this taxon does not require brumation or other pronounced temperature manipulations to be successfully bred. And when and if bred these long-lived arboreal pit vipers bear living young (neonates are7 ½ to 9 inches long) that usually feed readily on thawed pinkies. Litters of 20 to 25 have been reported but the females we kept usually birthed 5 to 10 babies once a year. This taxon is light-bodied enough to allow a keeper to incorporate sturdy vining plants (Epipremnums and/or Philodendrons) and horizontal tree branches into beautiful terrarium designs. How much easier and fulfilling could keeping a venomous snake be?

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Isn’t this a gorgeus Water Dragon in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user arkherps ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

Aerial photograph of the Balbina archipelago, showing some of the thousands of islands created by the dam that isolated wildlife, leading to a disastrous biodiversity crash. Photo by Caio Pamplona [dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen the Balbina Dam was completed in 1986, it flooded primary forest in the state of Amazonas along Brazil’s Uatumã River, forming a massive reservoir speckled by 3,546 flood-induced islands. In 1990, the Reserva Biológica (REBIO) do Uatumã was established, protecting the entire 443,700 hectare (109,6427 acre) reservoir, dubbed Balbina Lake, along with the adjacent mainland — the largest such reserve in the country at around 940,000 hectares (232, 2834 acres). But nearly three decades on, science has shown that these protective measures haven’t helped most species much — if at all. That discovery by researcher Maira Benchimol and her colleagues could have major repercussions for the 43 large dams planned for the Amazon’s Tapajós River Basin, and for hundreds of other proposed tropical dams throughout Latin America. Benchimol, an environmental scientist focused on ecology and conservation, did her graduate work at the University of East Anglia, and has now done groundbreaking research on the impacts of Balbina’s fragmented habitats on wildlife. She began by studying primates in 2009; animals that especially suffer after water isolation due to poor swimming skills. Then she became curious as to how other Amazonian life was faring on the forested islands of the reservoir. A few adult Howler monkeys survived on Babina reservoir islands, but didn’t exist…

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A diver has captured extraordinary footage of a giant squid swimming near the water surface in a Japanese harbor, reports CNN. According to a manager at the Mizuhashi Fisherina marina in Toyama Bay, a 3.7-meter-long (12 foot) giant squid was sighted swimming under some boats on the morning of December 24. “It was the first time that we saw a live giant squid here, where water depth is only about 2.5 to 3 meters,” Tatsuya Wakasugi, a manager at the marina, was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal. Wakasugi said that around a dozen giant squid have gotten caught in nets since the beginning of the year. Giant squid normally live at depths exceeding 650 meters (2,000 feet), making sighting of live individuals rare. One diver responded to the unusual event by jumping into the water with the squid. Akinobu Kimura, owner of Diving Shop Kaiyu, filmed the creature. “My curiosity was way bigger than fear, so I jumped into the water and go close to it,” Kimura told CNN. “This squid was not damaged and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me. I guided the squid toward… the ocean, several hundred meters from the area it was found in, and it disappeared into the deep sea.” At 3.7 meters, the Toyama squid may have been a juvenile. Giant squid are believed to reach a length of up to 13 meters (43 feet).

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This dart frog is so hot, in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user frogological , we are hoping it can melt all the post christmas snow! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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We hope this Ball Python in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user toshamc,will bring you a lot of Christmas Cheer! From our family to yours, we wish you a safe, healthy and happy Christmas! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Not a creature was stirring except for this Tokay in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user bloodpython_MA ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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This was one of 2 gravid female frosted flatwoods salamander we saw.
When we left at 1500 hrs, the forecast called for 3-5″ of rain in Liberty County. Remnants of the super hurricane, Patricia, heavy rains were forecast to begin at 4:00PM and continue for about 24 hours. The forecast erred. Badly! At first it had sounded like good salamander weather but by the time we got there (6:30 PM) we were wondering? Although it was obvious that it had rained a little, the clouds were breaking up and it was partially sunny. Not salamander weather at all.

Jake and I wondered aloud whether we should remain or return home, but on a whim, decided to head for the coast 20 miles distant. At 7:00PM we were treated to a sprinkle that encouraged us to stay. At 7:30PM we hit a rather widespread and significant shower. Perhaps not all was lost. The road dampened, road edge puddles formed.

At 7:45PM we found an ornate chorus frog, at 7:50PM the first flatwoods salamander crossed, at 7:55PM we found 2 more crossing flatwoods and another ornate chorus. By the time we left, 10:00PM, it had stopped raining again and we had seen 12 of the protected flatwoods salamanders (incl 2 gravid females), 3 more ornates, and a couple of dwarf salamanders. It had turned into a darn good nite.
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Eastern Black Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula nigra
Since 2003 Phil Peak and I have observed and recorded 760 live Black Kingsnakes in scores of different Kentucky counties. There is a lot of variation out there and I sure like them all, but at the end of the day I have limited space and resources and am only able to keep a handful of specimens. It took some time, but I soon realized that I like the ones around my home town the best of all. What I like so much about the Black Kingsnakes around Louisville are that they have the least amount of pattern and markings and are also a kind of shiny black coloration not seen in all examples of this species.

The captive hatched specimen in the photo is only around 30 inches long but has already lost all signs of the juvenile markings and has already developed the kind of shiny black coloration that makes these my favorite. I have noticed that a lot of my fellow field herpers tend to appreciate the animals that live in their own backyards too, and I think this is great. In addition to the natural beauty that these local snakes have, all of us who spend time hunting snakes also see something else when we look at our local favorites. Let’s face the truth here, life is tough. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can tell you right now that when I look at the snake in the picture I remember the day when I was out in the field with my good friend Phil and we flipped an old rotten board and found the clutch of eggs that this snake hatched out of. On that day there were no jobs, no family dramas, no bills to pay, and no cell phones ringing. Instead the sun was shining and I was a free man out in the woods breathing fresh air and doing what I wanted to do for once. I like that.
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By Herp News

On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that two subspecies of lions — Panthera leo leo and Panthera leo melanochaita – would be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The new rules, which will come into effect on January 22, 2016, will impose stricter permit requirements for trophy hunting, and will make it harder to import lions or their parts into the country, according to the announcement. Following new lion classification, lion populations in India, and west and central Africa have been clubbed into the subspecies Panthera leo leo.  Only about 1,400 of these lions remain in the wild, and this lion subspecies will be listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. FWS said. The second subspecies, Panthera leo melanochaita, which includes lions found across southern and eastern Africa, will be listed as Threatened under the ESA. These lions number between 17,000 to 19,000 in the wild. “We’re protecting the most vulnerable lion subspecies in India and parts of Africa as Endangered,” Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a video statement. “Doing so will impose strict new permit requirements, and largely prohibit the importation of these lions into the US.” “We’re also designating the remaining lion subspecies in Africa as threatened, and issuing a special rule for their management,” he added. “That rule extends significant new protections to this threatened subspecies prohibiting most imports of live lions and sport-hunted trophies into the U.S.” African Lion…

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Somehow I don’t think we found the real Santa with this Phelsuma in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user Geckoranch ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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A pretty adult Christmas tree phase eyelash viper.

Of the many tree vipers, one or more of the many phases of the Eyelash Viper, Bothriechis schlegelii, are often the first “hot species” kept as a hobbyist’s herp experience grows. Although this Latin American tree viper is often available in grays, olives, pinks, and oranges, there seem to be 3 phases, the yellow, the tiger, and the Christmas Tree, that are the most popular. All of these are normal and natural colors, designed by Mother Nature. Although they may have been line bred to “improve” or intensify color or contrast, none are the creations of hobbyist breeders. Since Christmas is tomorrow, it seems appropriate that I at least make mention of this color variation.

It was close to a half century ago when Patti and I first visited Costa Rica. On that trip we were fortunate to meet and be shepherded by Peter and Suzi Seigfried. Peter took us up mountains and down into valleys, into the forests, and along streams. And it was along the forested streams that we first became acquainted with eyelash vipers in habitat. The first we saw, a gray baby, was on an afternoon hike. As eyelash vipers go, this was a pretty “blah” but since it was my first I took photo after photo of the snake. Peter assured me that we would actually see some pretty ones before the trip was over. And he was right. The next one was a beautiful yellow (oropel) example and it was in a banana clump right next to the home of one of Peter’s friends. More pix and more assurances from Peter that we would see more of these pit vipers. Another drive and we were at a tiny hotel in Palmar Norte. The next morning we were on the road again and Peter drove us to visit another of his friends at a locale that if I ever knew I have long forgotten. But I haven’t forgotten the snake we saw. Again in bananas, Peter pointed out the most beautiful pit viper I had until then seen. It was big, it was green with pink and red trim, and although I then thought of it then as a “normal phase” I was looking upon my first “Christmas tree” (hobbyist name) eyelash viper. More pix and many, many fond memories. Herping just doesn’t get any better.

Happy Holidays to all.
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Dashing through the snow, two cute Bearded Dragons on a sleigh in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user ginag ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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By Herp News

What is a hackathon? ‘Hacking’ is creative problem solving, commonly through emerging technology. A ‘hackathon’ is an event where people, usually with tech backgrounds, come together to solve problems. Participants usually form teams and dive into the target problem(s), often for 1-3 days, and collaboratively produce (often through coding) a unique solution.  The events are intended to be fun and productive sessions that channel the group’s collective positive energy toward solving real-world problems. But can such short events attended by folks with limited wildlife knowledge actually encourage tech innovation with potential to improve nature conservation? To learn more, WildTech attended a “Hackathon for Wildlife” in mid-November and spoke with Gautam Shah, creator of Internet for Elephants, a social enterprise that leverages information technology to improve wildlife conservation, and organizer of the Chicago Hackathon for Wildlife. The inspiration for a hackathon for wildlife. Photo credit: George Powell Who organizes hackathons? Anyone with a challenge and the ability to interest people in trying to solve it can organize a hackathon – here are some guidelines for hosting. WildTech asked Shah, an experienced data analyst with a passion for wildlife, what motivated him to organize and produce a hackathon for wildlife. “The aim is to help 20 million people engage with wildlife – I’m 44 and don’t have time to think small,” he explained. “We are using data from real wildlife studies; we are ready to take data and figure out the best ways to engage audiences. Having an event helps…

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A farmer chases bird crop pests from his fields. In Bolivia, the species that appear in pet markets for sale most frequently are considered crop pests. Previously shot and killed, they are now poached and sold for additional income. Photo by El deber/ Flickr Creative Commons Share alike 2.0 [dropcap]A[/dropcap] new shipment of illegally trafficked parrots arrives at the Los Pozos market in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The sellers and middlemen are approached and questioned. The species, age and place of capture are noted down. This isn’t an enforcement sting, far from it; it’s research. The year was 2004, and scientists were trying to better understand local wildlife trafficking markets. To do so they needed to get closer to the dealers themselves. But that was no easy task when the data you are gathering could also be used as evidence of a crime. So to achieve their goal, the researchers hired a go-between, a trusted insider, to ask the survey questions. “Technically he’s part of the illicit trade, [and] he’s also a criminal,” Professor Stephen Pires, a criminologist at Florida International University told mongabay.com in a recent interview. The man they chose to conduct the survey had over ten years of experience working in the illegal parrot trafficking business. “There’s no reason why another criminal, like a trafficker or a poacher, would not trust him with this information,” said Pires. What the scientists learned about the clandestine domestic wildlife trade was surprising — and…

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In 2010, researcher Francesco Nardelli discovered two photographs of a certain species of langur, or leaf monkey, on the internet that he could not recognize. The caged langurs in the photos — which had been taken in a bird market in East Java in Indonesia — had black faces outlined by distinctive orange-golden colored hair. Over the next five years, Nardelli combed through zoo records, museum specimens, and published literature to resolve the identity of the langur. Then in October this year, in a paper published in the journal International Zoo News (IZN), Nardelli concluded that the langur in the photos was indeed a new species. He named it the golden-crowned langur, or Presbytis johnaspinalli. However, soon after Mongabay broke the news of the new langur species on October 23, some primatologists challenged Nardelli’s conclusions. One of the critics, Vincent Nijman, a primatologist at Oxford Brookes University who has worked on Presbytis and Trachypithecus monkeys for over two decades, recently published his arguments against the status of the langur species in the journal International Zoo News. Experts are debating the status of the “new” golden-crowned langur (Presbytis johnaspinalli). Courtesy of Nardelli 2015. Like Nardelli, Nijman investigated the origin of the photographs and traced the source of all photos — including two additional ones that he found online — back to “most likely a single trader [Mr M. Sabar] in the Ratu Soerjo bird market (a.k.a. Mantingan bird market) at the outskirts of the town of Mantingan…

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Scientists have discovered two critically endangered species of sea snakes, previously thought to be extinct, off the coast of Western Australia.It’s the first time the snakes have been spotted alive and healthy since disappearing from their only known habitat on Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea more than fifteen years ago.

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This Chuckwalla is ready to start us on out path to christmas in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user rosebuds ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Howler monkeys are often targeted by hunters. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Over-hunting contributes to forest carbon loss, claims a study published this week in the AAAS journal Science Advances. After looking at data from 31 sites from the Atlantic Forest — found along the southeast coast of Brazil — the researchers conclude that the over-hunting of large animals in those forests will eventually result in the widespread loss of the larger tree species responsible for storing the most carbon. The team of Brazilian and European researchers, led by Carolina Bello from Universidade Estadual Paulista, looked at seed dispersal by frugivores as well as the relationship between seed size and a tree’s carbon storage potential, and discovered a disturbing trend. Hunters in the region tend to harvest larger species of birds and mammals at unsustainable rates. These animals are often the species that eat, carry, and disperse large fruits and seeds. The tree species that produce largest animal-dispersed seeds tend to be taller and have higher wood density. Therefore, as these animals disappear, the trees with the greatest carbon storage capacity are less likely reproduce. Gradually, these tree species are replaced by smaller and less dense trees, and the total carbon storage capacity of the forest is reduced. “We found a positive correlation between seed diameter and wood density … as well as maximum tree height,” the authors write, and those correlations were especially pronounced in species with animal-dispersed seeds. Simulation pathway of…

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A snail so dangerous it warrants attention from Homeland Security [NBC] Earlier this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture specialists discovered two live Giant African Snails at the Port of Oakland in California. The snails are considered to be the most dangerous in the world, as they carry diseases dangerous to humans and crops as well as cause structural damage to homes. President Obama says US Republican party’s views on climate are not sustainable [Guardian] On Friday, Barack Obama scolded the US Republican party for standing apart from every other rightwing party in the developed world by denying the science of climate change. The birth of this rare eagle chick provides a boost of hope for the species [Mongabay] On December 7, a tiny Philippine eagle hatchling was born at the Philippine Eagle Foundation’s (PEF) conservation center in the Philippines.  This is the twenty sixth eaglet born at the center in 23 years. The Executive Director of the conservation center has called the birth a “breakthrough”. Giant African snail. Photo courtesy of USDA. How our world’s historic climate treaty could become public health treaty [WHO] This commentary from the World Health Organization explains how the recent international climate agreement can push countries to develop plans that will protect human health from the worst impacts of climate change, such as, droughts, heat waves and floods. The Paris climate talks have ended, but the real work is just beginning [Newsweek] While representatives from 196 nations were able to…

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South America’s Atlantic Forest is one of the most imperiled biomes on the planet. At its southern periphery in northeastern Argentina’s Misiones province, the country’s first ecological corridor links important protected areas within the Atlantic Forest region. A new study looks into the bird diversity of different types of Atlantic Forest habitats, finding that mature forest beat out secondary forest and grassland in terms of bird diversity. However, it also finds that secondary forest still contained relatively high bird diversity, and provided valuable habitat for threatened species.  Its authors underline the conservation importance of mature forests, and urge their protection as well as the maintenance and creation of corridors that knit together protected areas. Hundreds of years ago, the Atlantic Forest was a vast tract of forest that stretched down the coast of Brazil and into Paraguay and Argentina. Today, it is one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots, facing severe pressures from human activities like logging and farming that has left the biome severely fragmented. Studies estimate only 6 to 10 percent of the Atlantic Forest remains, and its primary forest has dwindled down to 3.5 to 5 percent. Conservationists say restoration and maintaining connectivity between forest fragments is crucial to sustaining viable populations of the many species that depend on the Atlantic Forest to survive. The authors of the study published this week in Mongabay’s open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science also underline the importance of evaluating the impacts of different habitat types on wildlife diversity. Misiones…

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Fast response is critical to preventing the spread of disease, especially in remote places with few potential responders and challenging conditions. Dr. Margaret Driciru, a senior warden and long-time wildlife veterinarian at Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) in Uganda, understands this as well as anyone and has consistently promoted the use of practical technologies for her work to save wildlife. Dr. Driciru spoke with WildTech about the mobile-phone data collection application called Magpi and how she and her ranger team at QENP use it to monitor and respond to wildlife health issues. She also recently presented her work at the recent Kathryn S. Fuller Science for Nature Symposium, Wired in the Wild, in Washington, DC. Dr. Driciru presenting at the Wired in the Wild Symposium at National Geographic. Photo Credit: Andrea Santy/WWF Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program How did you become interested in becoming a wildlife veterinarian? When I was in primary school, I had the dream of being a doctor- irrespective of what kind of doctor, so when I went to university, I got admitted to do veterinary medicine. That was the beginning of my career. When I completed vet school, the first real employment I had was in wildlife. It was to do [research on] lions. I was a researcher on a project that was assessing the population of the lions. I worked with lions for 7 years, and it was very interesting. I got attracted to wildlife and then I realized…

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By Herp News

Frog embryos do not fully control which genes they can turn on or off in the beginning of their development — but their mother does, through specific proteins in the egg cell, molecular developmental biologists report.

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Countdown to Christmas! This Green Tree Python is in the holiday spirit in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user toshamc ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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New research out of Angola casts light on the impact of shifting cultivation on dense tropical woodlands. The study, published this week in Mongabay’s open-access journal, Tropical Conservation Science, finds that an increasing demand for agricultural land and a growing population could change the structure and composition of the embattled African country’s remaining southeastern forests. Dry tropical woodlands are the characteristic vegetation in southeast Angola, where the nutrient content of soil is very low and precipitation is seasonal. This means that condsitions are generally unfavorable for agriculture given highly variable rainfall and poor soils that retain very little water and nutrients. Subsistence farmers in this region often have limited knowledge of modern soil conservation techniques and little or no access to chemical fertilizers, according to the study, and instead overcome these poor agricultural conditions by using a practice called “shifting cultivation.”Shifting cultivation is a type of slash-and-burn agricultural technique that involves removing vegetation by cutting it down and then burning it, which both enriches and clears the land. Cultivation is generally followed by a fallow period during which farmers shift to surrounding areas while vegetation in previously used patches of land gets time to regenerate. According to the authors of the study, who hail from the University of Hamburg in Germany, the majority of previous research on the ecological impacts of slash-and-burn agriculture has focused on tropical rainforests. They write that it is important to give increased consideration to assessing the impacts of this method on dry tropical forests like…

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A red uakari (Cacajao calvus) for sale at Bellavista Market, April 2014. Photo courtesy of NPC [dropcap]A[/dropcap] determined collaborative effort between health officials and activists has resulted in the shutting down of one of the most egregious and flourishing illegal wildlife markets in all of Peru. Bellavista Market, after nearly twenty years of illegal activity, was finally not only closed but completely razed to the ground in November. Veterinarian Patricia Mendoza, together with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Health and Health Policy Program (since 2010, as a part of the USAID-PREDICT project), visited the market located in the city of Pucallpa repeatedly between 2007 and 2012. What Mendoza saw left an indelible impression on her. “Bellavista was just the worst,” she told mongabay.com. “It always had this pack of animal sellers concentrated in a section of the market, and everybody knew about it. Before the research project, I couldn’t go inside of animal markets without crying or feeling anger. At Pucallpa, I always avoided Bellavista Street. So it was a hard adaptation, harder when I had to explain [to] other members of the crew to [put] their feelings aside to work at the markets.” An extremely young Endangered spider monkey (Ateles chamek). Photo courtesy of NPC The bulldozed Bellavista market. Photo courtesy of NPC At every visit, she and her team introduced themselves as part of a health research project. They returned repeatedly until suspicious vendors eventually allowed…

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A blast in the past today with this old field shot of a Red Salamander in our Herp Photo of the day, uploaded by kingsnake.com user SNAKEMANOFLOU ! Be sure to tell them you liked it here!

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Somehow this old female mud turtle had survived this, now healed, terrible injury

The big female mud turtle, a common mud, Kinosternon s. subrubrum, was walking along in the shallows at riveredge. Carl was scooting along in the canoe, and I, as usual, was a few yards upstream firmly caught in a riveredge snag that had reached out and grabbed me while I tried to take photos.

Carl, who has an intense interest in all things kinosternid had been lured to the shore by a small mud turtle basking on a barely emergent limb. It was the 3rd example we had seen on this morning. This one had dropped from its sunny perch as Carl had neared and the turtle had inexplicably disappeared in the clear shallow water. It was as he was about to accept defeat that Carl noticed the big female in the shallows.

He reached over and as he lifted her from the water he exclaimed “this turtle has had a hard life!” When I glanced over it wasn’t difficult to see what had prompted Carl’s comment. Much of the turtle’s posterior carapace was missing and scarred and a closer look disclosed that part of her lower mandible had been over broken and had healed and although almost imperceptibly healed, most flesh from one temporal area had been scraped clean leaving a noticeable difference in bilateral facial configuration. What, we wondered, could have caused this? Outboard prop? A marauding alligator snapper? The jury is hung on the causative agent but is unanimous on the fact that this old girl has had a hard – a very hard – life.
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Northern Ravine Salamander Plethodon electromorphus
After herping a place for years and years a person can begin to learn what to expect to find during the course of an outing, but remember to never let your guard down because you just never can tell what your going to find!

Such was the case back in April 2015 when Phil and I returned to one of our favorite snake hunting sites where we expected to see the usual suspects. Instead we flipped up a pair of these Northern Ravine Salamanders. Heavy rains during the right time of year appear to have driven these specimens up to the surface where we could locate them under materials we had set out for well over ten years. After discussions with our local wildlife officials we learned that this species was suspected but not confirmed in this area. Thanks to our efforts, they are now confirmed! …read more
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By Herp News

With so much of Madagascar’s natural spiny desert forest cleared, Radiated Tortoises now feed heavily on the introduced prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp). Photo courtesy of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Androy Region, Madagascar, October, 2011: Tandroy tribal elders in the village of Tragnovaho send runners to fetch government law enforcement officials to help apprehend poachers discovered in a nearby forest. A large group from the Antanosy tribe has walked over a hundred miles to hunt the formerly abundant Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys radiata). The strikingly beautiful animals have disappeared from the margins of their former range once included in the Antanosy’s homeland, so the tribe is now forced to trek south into Tandroy territory to find them. It’s not a march of starving desperation. “Tortoise meat has always been a delicacy,” explains Rick Hudson, President of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), a conservation non-profit working to help the Malagasy learn about and conserve their native turtles and tortoises. “They cure the meat and sell it in towns to the north because people won’t eat chicken if they can have tortoise. They also collect the smaller juveniles for the pet trade. This deals a big blow to the local tortoise population; making it doubly hard to recover. It was always a local resource, but now poachers have additional markets, plenty of incentive, and little chance of getting caught.” The markets Hudson is referring to are the rapacious black markets of a global, status-driven pet trade, as…

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Researchers have discovered half a dozen new species of the African clawed frog, and added back another to the list of known species, in the process uncovering striking new characteristics of one of the most widely studied amphibians in the world.

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Commonly known as fishing snakes, the Synophis genus has been expanded with as many as three new species following a research in the Andean cloud forests of Amazonian Ecuador and Peru. Not only is the discovery remarkable due to the rarity of new snake species being discovered, but also because this is the first time this mysterious and now eight-member genus is recorded from Peru.

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